Fat Daddy's Bar-B-Que — Restaurant in Russellville

My co-worker and i travel for work and have our disagreements about which style bbq is the best. We stopped into this joint on the basis of the outstanding reviews. When walking towards it I could smell the smoke and was super excited to get a taste. Our server was on point and quickly saw to us. We got our drink orders in and they were brought out quickly. For food we ordered fried mushrooms, a half pound of brisket a la carte, a half chicken with mac n chz and onion rings and a half rack of ribs with cole slaw and baked beans. The mushrooms were slightly undercooked and bland. They did come out close enough that letting them sit allowed them to become that little bit more cooked to be called done. The half chicken was not half of a spatchcocked chicken. It was the associated pieces of a half chicken placed together on a plate. There was no crust to the chicken skin. Somehow, despite the skin being slimy the breast was dry. The dark meat sections were moist inside but slimy chicken skin was all they had to offer as well. Bbq mac n chz is a quintessential bbq side, I might have too high of standards but it should be from scratch and have a little pride or something resembling it. This mac n chz is just macaroni noodles with melted velveeta. The onion rings i got as a second side looked amazing! Then biting into them i realized they too were undercooked and in reality after seeing some of the plates of other diners around me, it became obvious food was being pulled out early because the fryer grease needs to be changed and cooking food to done was making it too dark. I picture dark oil in those fryers and lots of little bits just burning away in it creating off flavors. The biggest disappointment was the brisket. I tried two bites and left it. It was so dry that i figure it was sitting pre sliced on a tray under the warmer and just placed on a plate per order. The server was excellent and noticed we clearly did not consider it worth eating and brought us another portion to eat. This portion was more moist but still not up to snuff and neither portion had anything close to resembling bark and were very bland. My coworkers ribs were the most passable item that came to our table and after trying a bite I can say those were passable, not excellent or something I would ever go back to order, but they didn't fill me with regret. The pickled okrah that came on the plate as a garnish was pretty good though. I would crack a jar of that open at home no problem. Overall food quality and description inadequate. Service was very good and I wish I could remember the name of our server to give her proper recognition. She handled the situation well and stayed positive and friendly the whole time despite us being disappointed. I really wish this place was excellent I love experiencing prosperous local restaurants, but if a Mission bbq ever comes to town, this place will be...

Would loved to have give a review of the food but with my experience with this restaurant, unfortunately I was not given the chance. Friday the 26th of December, 2024: after the holidays it’s tough to jump back into the kitchen and cook another meal after being in there for 2 days. So, the family and I, meaning the three of us, go out to grab a bite to eat. After driving for a bit we decided to give Fat Daddy’s a try! It’s 8:34 pm when we pulled in front of the restaurant. My son mention’s that I have parked in the “take out” spot. While moving the car one place to the righ of the original position, I notice 3-4 people all watching me move spots, no biggie. The three of us walk inside and immediately after entrance we are told “we pulled it” they are closed. Okay, fine, fair enough! Other than the hours listed online, and listed in the window clearly state, Fri. 10:30a to 10:00p. I guess my main gripe is the fact that the big guy with the beard standing at the podium along with three other girls couldn’t even lean out and let us know that they were closed instead of watching the whole event with parking and then walking inside only to be told closed! I understand food service, worked in it for plenty of years! If it’s slow, make cuts, then keep a couple of folks to pick up anything that may come in but always stay open for your set hours. Especially in BBQ, the hard part is done! It’s not like you have to fire up the smoker to prepare an order with each customer. If it was a case of running out of meat, should have smoked more earlier, you have a walk-in to store what is left over. Seems to me it would have to be a case of poor management. Sorry for the long rant but if the right people are not told about certain things, they go left un-addressed! Eventually it could also lead to loss of patrons which...

Our family decided to try a new restaurant tonight, as it is our Anniversary today and we wanted to try something new. It turned out to be absolutely horrible. We had such high expectations after reading such great reviews. Our waitress, I wish I had gotten her name, was absolutely horrible. She hardly came by, was not attentive or polite at all. We waited for more than an hour for our entrees. I ordered the filet, my boyfriend the 4 meat platter. After the hour went by my steak was finally brought out, I ordered it medium (which should by definition be a warm pink center.) it was absolutely well done. I sent it back, and told our waitress we had waited long enough and I don’t have enough time to be waiting another hour for one steak. I myself work 10 hours a day and have two small children, my down time is very limited. A so called manager came out with the steak in her hand and had the utter audacity to tell me that the steak was at best medium rare. I told her that absolutely was not a medium rare, there wasn’t a trace of pink. I told her that I did not want it, and she then proceeds to argue with me and say that we will still be charged for it, the “chef” won’t let us take it off our tab. I tell her honestly at this point, please pardon my French, I don’t give a s* if it’s taken off of my tab or not I don’t want it. I honestly have never had such a horrible experience at a restaurant. I wish it had not been that way, I was so excited to try a new restaurant here in Russellville. We will not be back, and are so...